Trump Administration

Are you better off now than you were one year ago? From the Potomac to Puget Sound, President Donald J. Trump and other Republicans should ask voters this exact question. Their answers should buoy GOP prospects for November’s mid-term elections. Saturday marks one year since President Trump’s inauguration. Since January 20, 2017, Trump and the GOP Congress have mopped up much of the previous management’s mess. Obama’s hectoring, anti-business tone has been hushed. His class warfare, “global-warming” fetish, and lead-from-behindism are neutralized. Some 1,500 absurd and intrusive regulations, many of them Obama’s brainchildren, have been junked. And Obama’s taxaholism has been…
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Departing Sen. Jeff Flake on Wednesday ripped President Trump for his criticism of the media referring to them as “enemy of the people,” comparing Trump’s remarks to Russian dictator Josef Stalin and stated they ought to be a “source of great shame.” “It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies​,” the Arizona Republican stated on the Senate floor. “It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase ​’​enemy of the people,’​ that even Nikita Khrushchev forbad its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party…
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P​resident Trump on Twitter Monday blasted Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who stated the president used the phrase “s–thole countries,” ​referring to him as “Dicky” and blaming him for scuttling a deal to assist younger immigrants. “Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals can’t get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military.​,” Trump posted on Monday.​ D​urbin, the one Democrat at a White House meeting last Thursday about immigration, stated Trump asked why the US continues to just accept immigrants from “s–thole countries” referring to Africa, Haiti and El Salvador.
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For President Donald J. Trump, 2017 concludes unlike how it commenced. Huge distractions arrived early, including court battles concerning Trump’s travel restrictions on terror-torn nations, a Niagara Falls of classified leaks, and loud threats of impeachment over alleged Russian collusion. Meanwhile, repealing and replacing Obamacare, expected to take just a few months, devolved into a quagmire that devoured time, energy, and morale. But 2017 ends as Trump’s Year of Winning Dangerously. He has navigated these and other troubled waters and defied his liberal and conservative critics. As he puts it: “We are compiling a long and beautiful list” of achievements.
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has fought for transparency and accountability within government since he was elected. Paul is the leading proponent of auditing the Federal Reserve, an issue championed by his father, but a lesser known proposal of Paul’s is to audit the Pentagon. Paul will be getting his wish from the Trump administration, as the Pentagon recently announced they would be conducting an annual audit. “The Defense Department is starting the first agency-wide financial audit in its history,” the Pentagon’s news service announced. The Pentagon is using news of this new annual audit to boast about their supposed dedication…
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In the age of Trump, the Right has been divided into two sides. On one side, we have the alt-right and alt-lite which seeks to defend Western Civilization by any means necessary. While I generally agree with these folks that Western principles should be preserved, I disagree strongly with their very tactics, such as play disruption and embracing racism. I personally feel that the best way to spread ideas is to actually hold discussions, not brawls. As seen in the aftermath of Charlottesville, these extremist forces have not succeeded in building sympathy for their cause as their stunt only incited more…
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For the military-industrial complex, business is booming during the Trump administration. Trump’s deescalation of tensions in Syria is apparently an outlier, as Trump has continued or ramped up the militaristic policies of his predecessor on every other front–most notably, North Korea. These policies have defense giants such as Lockheed Martin swimming in profits. “The level of dialogue around missile defense is now at the prime minister and minister of defense level,” Tim Cahill, who serves as vice president of Lockheed’s Air and Missile Defense division, said to Reuters during an interview. Trump’s declaration that North Korea would be “met with…
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Congress is dead set against making America great again, and they prove it time after time. Most recently, they overwhelmingly passed a bill to place sanctions on Russia and hamstring the President into complying with them against his better judgment. Although Trump signed the bill into law, he expressed his dismay through a signing statement. “While I favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed,” Trump said in the statement. “In its haste to pass this legislation, the Congress included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions.”…
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Analysts who examined video of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile test launch on Friday concluded that the missile poses less of a threat than originally thought, according to the New York Times. Although the missile appeared capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States in terms of distance traveled, footage of the Hwasong-14 re-entry vehicle indicated that it broke apart during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere before crashing into the sea off the coast of Japan. An analyst at 38 North, a website run by The US-Korea Institute at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, concluded…
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To those who enjoyed the Scaramucci show and are sad that it has come to an end, please consider the old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Anthony Scaramucci came into the Trump administration like a knight in shining armor. Besieged with constant infiltration, leaks and seemingly unprecedented turmoil throughout his first six months, President Trump needed a man to come in like gang busters and take care of business. Replacing Sean Spicer, Scaramucci came in as White House communications director guns a-blazin’ with a style so brash and confrontational that it may have…
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When President Donald Trump complained recently about how few prominent Republicans had his back, he was not kidding. A recent House vote to tie up the President, undermine his foreign policy, and partially remove his discretion pertaining to Russia passed with only three GOP legislators objecting. Reps. Jimmy Duncan (R-TN), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Justin Amash (R-MI) were the three lone “no” votes against a successful measure limiting Trump’s ability to remove sanctions on Russia that were approved by Congress. This maneuver may harm Trump’s ability to conduct diplomacy with Russia, and further jeopardize tenuous relations with the nation. Hiding…
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has stated that President Donald Trump is a very persuasive man, and it showed today as Paul jumped on the Trump Train–so to speak–to advance floor debate in the Senate with the hopes of repealing and replacing Obamacare. “I’m very happy to announce that with zero of the Democrats’ votes, the motion to proceed on health care has moved past and now we move forward toward truly great health care for the American people. We look forward to that. This was a big step,” Trump said at a White House news conference after the vote. Trump…
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The Defense Ministers of Iraq and Iran have united to sign a pact to fight in a joint effort against “terrorism and extremism,” and the Trump administration–a hostile critic of the Iranian regime–is silent thus far. Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan and Iraqi Defense Minister Erfan al-Hiyali came together on Sunday to sign a memorandum of understanding pertaining not only to fighting terror but also other shared common goals such as border security and logistics. This marks a watershed moment of diplomacy between the frequently hostile nations. “Extending cooperation and exchanging experiences in fighting terrorism and extremism, border security, and…
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While North Korea–led by the childish and deranged dictator Kim Jong-un–clearly wants to be taken seriously on the global stage as a world power, the United States military is not buying it. They see North Korea as little more than a paper tiger, and do not believe that the nation has the ability to accurately hit the United States with missiles. Pyongyang’s state-controlled media organs reported that North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile tests conducted on July 4 were successful, and demonstrated to the world that the small nation actually has the capability to attack the United States. However, General Paul…
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The United States is taking the next steps to renegotiate the globalist North American Free Trade Agreement, Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Monday. U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer released a comprehensive summary of the Trump administration’s negotiating objectives, with reducing the trade deficit with Canada and Mexico as their main goal. The release of these objectives will lay the groundwork for negotiations that are anticipated to begin later in the summer. “Under President Trump’s leadership, USTR will negotiate a fair deal,” Lighthizer said in a statement. “We will seek to address America’s persistent…
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The Trump administration has announced a new regime of sanctions against Iran to push back against their ballistic missile program. Critics believe these new sanctions may jeopardize the Iranian nuclear deal that was one of former President Obama’s signature accomplishments. “Even as we continue to work to prevent Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, we cannot look away while Iran threatens our country and our allies in ways beyond their nuclear threat,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said to reporters today. The sanctions will be aimed at 18 entities and people who the United States believes to be…
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This week, the White House will be hosting 50 companies from across the country, each intended to represent a state. The companies will display a product that they manufacture in the United States, such as a NASA spacesuit made by ILC Dover LP, Delaware’s representative. Steinway, representing New York, will display a piano. Shotgun chaps made by K Bar J Leather, on behalf of South Dakota, will be displayed as well. The list goes on from there. Press Secretary Sean Spicer talked up this campaign at yesterday’s off-camera press briefing, stating that the country has an “incredible span of American products.” But no endeavor…
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions was a notorious drug warrior while serving in the Senate. Those hoping that President Donald Trump, who actually supported the full legalization of drugs in the past, would reign Sessions in have had their hopes dashed as Sessions announced today that federal civil asset forfeitures will expand during the Trump administration. “[W]e hope to issue this week a new directive on asset forfeiture—especially for drug traffickers,” Sessions said to a National District Attorneys Association conference in Minneapolis Monday. “With care and professionalism, we plan to develop policies to increase forfeitures. No criminal should be allowed to…
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While Democrats expend all of their firepower in trying to establish collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, a Virginia woman has been quietly performing the “duty” Democrats claim they organize for–giving voice to the repressed. The duty in question concerns a Virginia woman’s efforts in finding defectors from Stalinist North Korea and giving them a microphone in which to expose the horror of living in the infamously repressive regime. But for Suzanne Scholte, who heads the Defense Forum Foundation, the goal is not just to show the liberty-crushing methods of the North Korea regime; her mission is also to…
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President Donald Trump’s bellicose approach to handling relations with North Korea does not appear to be paying off. China is unimpressed with Trump’s threats and saber-rattling, and is sticking with their diplomatic approach to handling the authoritarian regime. “There’s been a lot of wishful thinking on the U.S. side that China was coming around in its approach,” said John Delury, a Seoul professor who studies North Korean affairs. Trump previously made remarks that China was coming around on North Korea, and the nation was willing to mirror his tough approach toward the repressive dictatorship. Trump’s optimistic talk turned out to…
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The Trump administration has given a variety of mixed messages regarding foreign affairs, with different cabinet members and key advisors contradicting each other on an almost daily basis. However, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has remained constantly in favor of normalizing Russian relations and de-escalating tensions with Syria. He made remarks on Monday that should make all non-interventionists breathe a sigh of relief. Tillerson assured UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres that U.S. policy in Syria would be reduced to “limited tactical goals” and that U.S. forces would not jeopardize the regime of embattled President Bashar al-Assad. Additionally, Tillerson handed off…
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Times have changed since Steve Bannon left Breitbart News to serve as White House chief strategist. When Bannon was editor-in-chief of the publication, it never shied away from controversy and featured a variety of firebrands on their writing staff. Less than a year later, merely criticizing the Islamic religion can get you a pink slip at Breitbart. Former Breitbart journalist Katie McHugh wrote that “there would be no deadly terror attacks in the U.K. if Muslims didn’t live there” in a Tweet she posted after a terror attack killed seven people and injured 50 others in London on Saturday. It…
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The Trump administration’s proposed budget includes a light cap on spending for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). This represents only a very small anticipated decrease in certain Pentagon spending, but that hasn’t stopped neoconservatives from crying foul. OCO spending is capped at $65 billion in the Trump spending request being touted by budget director Mick Mulvaney. This is no small number, but it is down from the $83 billion that Congress approved for OCO spending in 2017. Mulvaney, a former member of the House Freedom Caucus, is intent on slowly reducing federal spending back to responsible levels, and that is wholly…
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The ‘campaign Donald Trump’ is set to return in the coming weeks and months, with extensive reports of major staffing reshuffles in Trump world favoring operatives associated with the grassroots right that spearheaded the historic victory last year. This follows an evident shift to the right on policy emanating from the Trump administration, including Trump hammering NATO leaders on their failure to adhere to the terms of the alliance, siding with the Freedom Caucus against Paul Ryan on the border tax, and unveiling an impressive, conservative budget plan. A report by Axios suggests White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon will be heading a new “war…
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Fiscally conservative critics of President Trump were shocked today as his first budget was announced. Trump’s budget office director, Mick Mulvaney unveiled a budget today that would cut $3.6 trillion in federal spending over the next decade. The only thing standing in the way of this libertarian budget is Congress. The Trump proposal may be too ambitious to be palatable for Congress. In spite of the Congress being dominated by Republican lawmakers, they have been reticent to making even the slightest of cuts to future government spending for many years. The GOP-dominated Congress even approved all of the Obama administration’s…
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The big winners of the recent weapons deal that President Donald Trump brokered with Saudi Arabia appear to be the corporations serving the military-industrial complex. After the deal was announced, US defense contractors saw their stocks soar to record highs on Wall Street. Lockheed Martin was influential in setting up the deal with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner lobbying their CEO directly. They stand to profit the most from the agreement. According to Yahoo News, Lockheed will provide missile and air defense, combat ships, tactical aircraft, and rotary wing technologies and programs to the tune of $28 billion. “We are proud…
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Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, joked this week that President Trump’s first budget is “not for public consumption yet.” Mulvaney may not be joking for long, as he and his cohorts have less than a week to get the massive budget prepared for unveiling. “I have to go home and read 4,000 pages of budget,” Mulvaney said to a group of conservative legal minds at the Federalist Society on Wednesday, according to a Washington Examiner report. Mulvaney is undaunted by the gargantuan task of reviewing and preparing the budget that lies ahead of him.…
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While most Republicans are breathing a sigh of relief that FBI Director James Comey was relieved of his position, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) is not among them. He has counteracted his traditional ally, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), to side with neoconservatives such as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and demand an independent investigator to look into connections between Trump and Russia. Amash didn’t stop there. He has openly expressed his disdain for Trump, saying that he trusts Comey more than the President. He is even open to working with the Democrats on impeachment efforts if any revelations are uncovered. Amash’s concerns stem…
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One of President Donald Trump’s most influential and powerful advisors is a member of his own family. His son-in-law, Jared Kushner was put at the helm of the new White House Office of American Innovation, and designated to work on criminal justice reform and other crucial tasks, but now Trump has apparently discovered a shocking secret about his daughter’s husband: He’s completely incompetent! “[President Trump’s] own mood, according to two advisers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has become sour and dark, and he has turned against most of his aides — even his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — describing…
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President Donald Trump is getting restless. His agenda has stalled, his approval rating is cratering, and the Washington D.C. establishment won’t play ball. A report has indicated a serious shake-up is likely on its way, and many heads may roll. “The advice he’s getting is to go big — that he has nothing to lose,” a source close to Trump said, according to an Axios report. “The question now is how big and how bold. I’m not sure he knows the answer to that yet.” The report claims that possible Trump administration officials in line to receive the axe include…
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Suspecting some sort of nefarious cover-up or conspiracy, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) is looking into investigating President Trump’s ties to Russia after he publicly fired former FBI Director James Comey yesterday. “My staff and I are reviewing legislation to establish an independent commission on Russia. The second paragraph of this letter is bizarre,” Amash said in a May 9 tweet. Amash took umbrage with the following words from Trump’s dismissal letter to Comey. It reads, “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the…
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It’s never a dull moment in the Trump White House. As rival factions within the administration continue to butt heads, the casualties are beginning to mount. Embattled FBI Director James Comey was officially relieved of his duties today, and if tensions continue to mount, national security advisor H.R. McMaster may be the next to get the axe. “While I appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation,” Trump wrote in a public letter addressed to Comey informing him that he was terminated. “I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that…
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Reports of President Trump’s disillusionment with White House national security advisor H.R McMaster have led nationalists and populists within the administration to push to reclaim lost influence over foreign affairs, unnamed White House sources claimed this week. President Trump’s frustrations with his national security advisor–the replacement of the iconoclastic Michael Flynn–were said to have reached a boiling point yesterday morning, with the President screaming at McMaster over his attempts to override President Trump and conduct diplomacy as if he were the Commander-in-Chief. McMaster supposedly guaranteed South Korea that the United States would pay for a complicated missile defense system for…
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Trump’s long-time confidant, Roger Stone is not happy with what is going on in his great friend’s administration. A self-described libertarian, Stone is angry that the Trump administration is swaying from its “America First” mandate. He has isolated a peculiar target for his ire: White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Bannon is seen as the primary voice for nationalism within the Trump administration, but his work has not pleased Stone. Stone went on a Twitter rampage against the publisher turned political oracle last week criticizing his organizational ability, his lack of competency, his poor dressing ability, and claiming he is apart…
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is angry yet again at the conniving nature of his own political party. Congressional Republicans unveiled their omnibus spending bill this week, which appropriates over $1 trillion dollars in new spending. This gives a huge political victory to the Democrats, Paul claimed in his Breitbart op/ed published Tuesday. “You’ll see it in the news as an “Omnibus spending bill,” when it should really be called “the Status Quo Protection Act.” President Hillary Clinton would have been proud of this bill,” Paul said. “It tosses out campaign promises as it continues to fund the military industrial complex and…
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There are a number of incongruent ideologies jockeying for influence within the Trump White House. Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner has emerged as one of the most powerful early on. Despite receiving a great deal of flak from conservatives and libertarians for his supposedly progressive outlook, there may be an issue where his influence on the White House can be appreciated: criminal justice reform. According to a New York Times report, Kushner is pushing for criminal justice reform on issues such as ending mandatory minimums. However, he is faced with resistance from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a long-time drug warrior…
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The neoconservatives are once again emboldened after Trump’s military strike on Syria last week. Former George W. Bush advisor Elliott Abrams is offering some unsolicited advice for President Trump: Dump Steve Bannon as chief political strategist. “He’s not a good influence on the president,” Abrams said to a reporter during a Politico interview. He apparently smiled ear-to-ear while discussing the prospects of Bannon’s removal. Furthermore, he is a firm proponent of Jared Kushner’s increased influence in the White House. Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law and the head of the new White House Office of American Innovation.
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